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In this New York Times file photo, President Barack Obama escorts former first lady Nancy Reagan to the signing of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act at the White House on June 2, 2009.

Many conservatives are suffering from another bout of Obama outrage because the president isn’t attending former first lady Nancy Reagan’s funeral on Friday, but is instead sticking with his plans to visit Austin for seven hours so he can chat onstage with The Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith as part of the South by Southwest Interactive festival and appear at two Democratic fundraisers.

That sitting presidents rarely attend the funerals of former first ladies doesn’t seem to matter to the perpetually aggrieved critics of the president. Nor does it matter that Obama is following the examples set by his modern predecessors whose time in office coincides with the instant transmission of news and the arrival of air travel, or that then-President George W. Bush didn’t attend fellow Texan Lady Bird Johnson’s funeral in 2007 (and no one raised a fuss).

No, none of it matters. Because, you know, Obama.

Only four times has a sitting president attended funeral services for a former first lady — five if you count the eulogy Bill Clinton delivered at Jackie Kennedy’s burial in 1994. If I were to ask you who was the first sitting president to attend a former first lady’s funeral, and whose funeral did he attend, you’d never guess the answer. It’s a guaranteed trivia stumper. So, since I sort of did just ask the question, go ahead, take a guess. I’ll wait. …

Dolley Madison

Give up? The answer is Zachary Taylor, who attended Dolley Madison’s funeral in 1849 and gave us the term “first lady” in his eulogy — or so the story goes; there’s no written evidence of it. Madison is an American icon. She’s more famous than Taylor, who’s one of those presidents you never think about until you hear his name and are reminded he was president. Two hundred years after she lived in the White House, Dolley Madison remains belle of the first lady ball. Who wouldn’t have gone to her funeral?

No one, because it seems everyone who was someone in 1849 went. From the spring 2001 issue of the James Madison University Magazine:

Dolley Madison fell ill in July 1849. She lingered for five days, and died on Thursday evening, July 12. She was 81 years old and had known every president from George Washington to Zachary Taylor. Her funeral oration on July 17 was a state occasion, attended by the president, cabinet officers, diplomatic corps, members of the House and Senate, Supreme Court justices, officers of the army and navy, the mayor and city leaders, and “citizens and strangers.” As the Washington newspaper, The Daily Intelligencer, noted: “All of our country and thousands in other lands will need no language of Eulogy to inspire a deep and sincere regret when they learn the demise of one who touched all hearts by her goodness and won the admiration of all by the charms of dignity and grace.”

Taylor’s presence at Dolley Madison’s funeral did not set a presidential precedent and 53 years would pass before Teddy Roosevelt attended Julia Grant‘s funeral in 1902. Julia Grant was no Dolley Madison, but she was a fellow Republican and New Yorker whom Roosevelt had known for years. Above all, she was Mrs. General Grant.

A tragic connection explains why Roosevelt also attended the funeral of Ida McKinley in 1907. Roosevelt had been William McKinley’s vice president and it was McKinley’s assassination in 1901 that had propelled Roosevelt to the White House.

John Kennedy was one of about 250 attendees at the funeral of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962. Though Roosevelt’s funeral was simple and unassuming, in keeping with her wishes, it nonetheless was the 20th century equivalent of Dolley Madison‘s in terms of her accomplishments and iconic status, especially among Democrats, and the number of politically powerful on hand.

Technically, Kennedy’s appearance at Eleanor Roosevelt’s funeral 54 years ago is the last time a sitting president attended services for a former first lady. Bill Clinton spoke during an 11-minute grave-site ceremony for Jackie Kennedy at Arlington National Ceremony on May 23, 1994, but he did not attend her funeral Mass in New York earlier in the day.

First lady is not an official title — which is why the American-Statesman, following Associated Press style, never capitalizes it before a first lady’s name — so a former first lady’s funeral is not an event of state and there’s no set protocol to follow. Typically in recent times, the current first lady represents the White House at a former first lady’s funeral. Surviving former first ladies also usually attend, their health and schedules permitting. Sometimes former presidents accompany their wives.

Thus Michelle Obama will be at Nancy Reagan’s funeral on Friday along with Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton. Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush also will attend, not only to represent themselves, but also to represent former President George H.W. Bush, who was Ronald Reagan’s vice president, and Barbara Bush.

I think it would be a nice gesture for President Obama to attend Nancy Reagan’s funeral, but he is not disgracing his office or embarrassing the nation by not going. Neither protocol nor history demands he be there.

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For anyone interested in the history of first ladies, the website of the National First Ladies’ Library (www.firstladies.org) is a wonderful resource.

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Here's where the American-Statesman's editorial board members give their take on the news of the day, as well as give insight and analysis on the issues that matter to Central Texans. On occasion, the Viewpoints blog will serve as additional space for editorials that reflect the opinion of the American-Statesman. And, from time to time, readers will find contributions from special guests. Blog contributors include: Juan Castillo, Alberta Phillips and Gissela SantaCruz.